Brad Hicks

ERWIN — A Virginia man was arrested Monday by the Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department and charged with drug possession after a traffic stop and a positive alert on his vehicle from the department’s drug-sniffing dog.
Anthony Reid Strawser, 23, 4028 Maylock Lane, Fairfax, Va., was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, possession of hashish and a drug paraphernalia violation.
According to an affidavit written by UCSD Sgt. Frank Rogers, Rogers conducted a traffic stop on Strawser’s vehicle. During his initial contact with Strawser, Rogers detected the odor of marijuana coming from his vehicle, according to the affidavit. Rogers requested a drug-sniffing K-9 while he issued a traffic citation, according to the report.
Rogers wrote in the report that when he questioned Strawser about the smell of marijuana, Strawser admitted to being in possession of a small bag of marijuana. K-9 Officer Nick Hughes deployed the dog on Strawser’s vehicle and indicated the dog made a positive alert on the presence of narcotics, according to the report.
Strawser consented to a search, and a container with approximately 1 gram of hash was recovered from his coat pocket, according to the report. Authorities also recovered a waxy paper containing hash oil, a marijuana grinder and a pipe used to smoke hash, the report states. The report said a search of Strawser’s vehicle revealed the bag of marijuana he admitted possessing.
The search also turned up a glass jar containing approximately 10 grams of marijuana bud, as well as several pipes, screens and a roach clip, according to Rogers’ affidavit.
Strawser was arraigned Tuesday morning in Unicoi County Sessions Court, where he pleaded guilty to possession of a schedule VI drug and possession of narcotic hash. He was sentenced to serve 11 months and 29 days of supervised probation.